The Mach1 has a small shape, so it has a high AR. Therefore it has wide tips with battens. The materials and quality look very good. The leading edge is for this size compared to other tubes quiet thin.

Unfotunately I just had the kite without bar so I used a Naish ARX bar. I had to shorten the depower lines for better performance. But with the original bar and lines it is not necessary.

Up in the air the kite is unbelievable fast in turning. I had a great time on the water carving and jumping. Great for jumps since it kicks back fast and direct to steer before landing. It gave me nice airtime.
The turns are fun as well since it is easy to turn and makes carving with a size like this unbelievable.
I didn't try to restart it, but next time I will. But I assume, due to its slim shape, it is not that easy to relaunch. Did anyone try it yet and could tell me that I'm not right?
I'm looking forward to test the 18.1 because I want to know at how much wind I can start riding and how fast it will turn.

Nice post Toby..... in the meantime, it has started to snow here (Boston), so I still haven't taken my kites out. I now have received the 12m2 as well: will let you know and post my impressions as soon as I get some nice weather here

I had a chance to test both the Mach1 15.1 and the Mach1 12.1 kites.
This kites seems to be very well built and come with a nice small diameter bar ( great for winter sailing when using mittens or gloves) and nice bag. It took me some time to get used to this fast flying kite but it seems that it had a great range! I used the 12.1 in a gusty 12-24 mph and it work great in the lower and higher range. On the same day, a friend was on his Mach1 9.0 and he seems to be dialed in as well. I tested the 15.1 on a 10-18 mph day and again it seems to work great. For a reference, I am 200 lbs. and ride on a Hana Crew Twin Tip. Both kites are very fast and provide a strong lift. To take full advantage of the Mach1 range and performance, I had to inflate the kite properly ( more then the average inflatable kite).

February 14, 2002: Review by Kinsley Wong
With all the light wind, we have had during last week and this week, I finally get a chance to throughly test out the F-One Mach1 18.1. This is trully the LIGHT WIND Machine! F-One Mach1 18.1 is so far THE BEST BIG KITE, I have ever tried this year. I have tried these kites: Naish 18.5, Flysurfer 16M Mast Air, RRD 18.9, Cabrinha 16M, and North 22M.

The winner is F-One Mach1 18.1: powerful, fast, and responsive for very light wind: 6kts!

Last week, my friend Ken Krall was standing on the beach at Morro Bay with his electronic wind meter and measured 6-8kts wind while I was going upwind and rolling double forward grabs with F-One 142cm board in 8kts wind. That same day, all the local kiters stood around on the beach watching me having a blast with the Mach1 18.1 in 6-8kts wind. Then the wind kicked up to 10-12kts enough to lure everyone out to play with their big kites and deposited them way downwind. After watching me on my first session with the F-One Mach1 18.1 in wind from 6-8kts, Ken Krall's impression was: "what an amazing kite!". Needless to say, that day, Ken bought an F-One Mach1 18.1 immediately without even trying it. The last few days, Ken Krall has been using the 18.1. He got his biggest air ever, just ask him how big it was: 40ft??? in wind 12 gust up to 16kts???! He said that his Mach1 18.1 turns way way faster than the Cabrinha 12M Blacktip. Okay so he is one happy F-One Mach1 18.1 customer. Today, after our riding sessions, he told me that he wants to replace his whole quiver of Cabrinha kites with all F-One Mach1 kites.

As for my personal impression of the F-One Mach1 18.1, I have tested it both with 27M and 20M line. Mach1 18.1 comes with a 55cm control bar and 27M line. I feel that I could handle the higher wind of 16kts or higher with shorter line 20M. The kite wind range recommended from F-One manufacturer is 6-14kts. It is a very powerful kite, in 16kts or more, I would not want to use it. I trully think this is THE KITE for the light wind. At 6kts consistent wind, with the Mach1 18.1 using 27M line and my 142cm F-one board, I have no problem going upwind, ripping. At 8kts, it is time for bigairs. Other kites like the North 22M does not have the handling capability like the Mach1 18.1. The Mach1 18.1 turns very fast for its large size and in comparison to other large kites in its class. Just like other Mach1 kites, the Mach1 18.1 got my highest rating for the superb quality construction and performance.

The only thing that I did not like is that the F-One carry backpack for the 18.1 does not fit when keeping the struts of the kite inflated. The backpack needs to be redesigned so that it can be open from the middle out which provides a BIG opening as comparing to the current design of small top opening.

In summary, you will just have to try out the Mach1 18.1 for yourself. It is really the BEST light wind machine for this season! Cheers, Kinsley.

I have now had the chance to fly both 12.1 and 18.1 Mach1 kites in "dry" conditions. This is a quick writeup of my overall impressions.

Firstly, both kites were shipped and packed in the excellent quality bag from F-One. They both came with the 55cm bar, complete 4-line system (27m) with safety leash, and both-ways large volume pump. The kite design is good, and both of them looked gorgeous up there in the sky....

Kite is fast and gives very responsive turns. Hard to tell the difference from the 8m2 foil kite I am used to (and that is reknown for very good responsiveness)! The kite remained as easy to control even when fully choked.
Purposely, I succeeded to stall the kite. For that, I had to be fully strapped (front lines), and brought the kite to zenith while quickly choking the bar.. that made it. Yet, this is not quite in the range of typical use!
The pull generated was fairly constant all over the window, but I would probably have needed the directional board to be able to surf that relatively low wind.
A quick test at the safety system proved to function as expected. No surprise at this stage, although this will need real conditions testing.
Launch/relaunch could not really be tested either. Clearly, when on the ground, I needed a second person to get the kite started.

Quite much the same feedback as above. A major difference was the *very* low wind conditions: in order to get the kite started, it really helped to pull on the central strap (thus accelerating the kite relative speed and permitting it to climb (well done, Johnny!).
A little tuning on the central lines might help, or this handling may just be common sense for 4-lines flyers.... but again, that was just 7mph of wind! Once up and flying, this concern disappeared, yet the kite required to be very well pumped-up to deliver its best performance.
Now, the amazing fact is that this (relatively) huge kite turns very well despite only 55cm of bar: sensibely less responsive than the 12m2 above, yet, totally sufficient to effectively control the kite. When fully powered, this is. In choked position, although the kite remained easily possible to control, there was quite some inertia in its response. But again, this was in very light conditions, and I believe that the kite will be more responsive in choked mode when it needs to be: in stronger winds.
Despite low wind conditions, the kite was flying rapidly accross the window (in choked position), and would give great pull when borded. What a feeling!

Bottom line? Two incredible kites with huge power resources when borded and still responsive when choked. Both delivered very good controlability even when placed on the edge of the window, which is a great feature and will help surf upwind. Stable, Healthy, Responsive, but poised to deliver high speeds and huge air: these kites are most certainly a hit for the new season but not necessarily to put in all hands (intermediate to advanced, I would say).

sounds good, Jido!
my problem is that I 't get my hands on the 18.1. Here they will be available in 4 weeks. But definitely I will test it.
I think it will be my largest kite for 2002's season. But before I decide I have to test more of the other kites.
And don't forget about the X2 from Naish!

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